Atlanta
by I AM NOT TIM
Summary: Loosely based on "Atlanta" on FX. Xavier's life is headed downhill fast. When he discovers that his cousin is an aspiring rapper, he sees him as his ticket to success. He struggles with love and his sense of self worth, as "Kofi K" begins to build a legitimate team around him and rise in popularity. Big E, Naomi, Bayley, Sasha, Becky, Charlotte, Tyler Breeze and others are featured
1. Lil Yachty Or Something (Part 1)

Apollo, Alexa, and Xavier continued working their boring shift at the airport, selling cell phone plans.

"Alexa, please." Apollo said.

She shrugged.

"It's not my fault you can't sell yours."

"You're a cute little white girl, of course people are gonna buy from you. Watch." Apollo said.

A man was walking, holding a suitcase and a coffee.

"Excuse me, sir." Apollo called out, walking towards him.

"I'm late, fuck off." The man said, still walking.

Apollo walked back to Alexa and Xavier.

"See?"

"How many have you sold?" Alexa asked.

"One."

"One!? What about you Xavier?"

"Three."

"I don't have time to sell for you Apollo."

"Yes you do. How many have you sold?" Apollo asked.

"34... make that thirty five. Excuse me sir! Do you have a moment to talk about your cellphone plan!?"

Alexa went off to make another sale, as Xavier and Apollo continued to stand there.

"Excuse me, ma'am." Xavier said, to an old lady who was walking by.

"You can shove that cellphone plan up your ass." She said.

Xavier simply nodded.

"Yo, I feel like I know that guy from somewhere." Apollo said, pointing to a guy with dreadlocks, wearing a flashy gold necklace.

"That's... I think that's my cousin Kofi."

"Kofi K, that's who it is. I didn't know your cousin was Kofi K."

"Kofi K? What are you talking about?" Xavier asked.

"That's his rap name, you never heard his music?"

"Didn't know he made music."

"Flexperience, Flexplanation, Houston Flexus, Tyrannosaurus Flex?" Apollo asked.

"Do all his song titles have the word Flex in it?"

"Nah, he got one called 'Intro', that's his mixtape intro."

"X! Just the man I was looking for!" Kofi exclaimed, walking over to him.

Kofi shook his hand.

"Hey Kofi, what... what are you doing here?"

"I was at Auntie Annie's house, and she said it's your birthday."

"Oh forreal? Happy birthday, man." Apollo said, smacking Xavier on the shoulder.

"Thanks."

"But more importantly, it's your 21st birthday, nigga!" Kofi exclaimed.

"Why does that make it more important?"

"You're going out to the club with me and my boy Big E."

Xavier looked confused at Kofi.

"Club?"

"Yeah, I heard you and your girl broke up not too long ago."

"You and Naomi broke up again? When?" Apollo asked.

"We break up every month, it's no big deal." Xavier said.

"Well I'mma be at Auntie Annie's to pick you up. Peace."

Before Xavier could say that he didn't want to go, Kofi walked away.

"So you're staying at your mom's?" Apollo asked.

"...yeah. Naomi kicked me out 5 days ago."

"She kicked out out!? Maybe she's serious this time."

"Sir, would you be interested in buying a cell phone plan?" Xavier asked, walking away from Apollo.

"...can't believe he hasn't heard Tyrannosaurus Flex." Apollo said, shaking his head.

* * *

It was about 11:00 PM.

Kofi was in the driver's seat, with Big E riding shotgun. Xavier sat in the backseat, typing on his phone.

"It's your birthday! I'm doing you a favor!"

"I don't even like clubs." Xavier sighed, rolling his eyes at Kofi.

"Do you like pussy?" Kofi asked, with a laugh.

Xavier shrugged.

"Depends on the context."

"Your cousin is weird as fuck." Big E said.

"Nigga it's your 21st birthday, if you don't get yo ass in that club, get wasted, and bring a bitch home...you don't even have to bring a bitch home, at least get head in the bathroom or something."

"Do you call all women bitches?" Xavier asked, putting his phone in his pocket as Kofi parked.

"I call bitches bitches." Kofi shrugged.

Kofi, Big E, and Xavier all got out of the car, and began walking into the loud club.

"Kofi K! Big E!"

The three turned around to see a taller, bald black man, who immediately shook Big E and Kofi's hands.

"Titus, this is my cousin X."

"I'm Xavier."

Kofi rolled his eyes as Titus and Xavier shook hands.

"Yeah, it's his 21st birthday, so we brought him out, ya know, we..."

Xavier couldn't hear Big E anymore. He began zoning out, and focusing on a girl with bright pink hair and light brown skin, sitting at the bar. A girl with dark brown hair, and tanned white skin sat next to her. He immediately snapped out of his daze when Titus slapped him on the back.

"First drink for the birthday boy is on me." He said.

"And I think we've found contestant number one." Kofi said, noticing the pink haired girl as well.

"You sure X can handle all that?" Big E asked.

Before Xavier could respond, Kofi scoffed.

"I'm not recruiting for X! It's every man for himself out here... I do need somebody to keep her friend busy though..."

"Gotchu, let's go." Big E said, immediately.

Xavier just stood and watched, as Kofi and Big E walked over to the bar, eventually he and Titus followed them.

Kofi sat next to the pink haired girl, as her friend sat on the opposite side of her. Big E sat next to her friend.

"2 shots for these ladies right here." Kofi said.

Xavier sat on the other side of Kofi, and Titus sat to the left of Xavier.

"Kofi K. You might've heard of me."

Kofi extended his hand. The pink haired girl just stared at it, as her friend grabbed it, shaking it.

"From SoundCloud!? That's so cool, I'm Bayley!"

The bartender brought the shots.

"And your friend is?" Kofi asked.

"Not gonna fuck you. Thanks for the shot though." The pink haired girl said.

She sarcastically smiled at Kofi and drank the shot, before slamming the glass back onto the table.

Kofi smiled and faked confusion as Xavier cracked up a bit.

"What?"

"Three shots over here for my boy!" Titus laughed, pointing to Xavier, smacking him on the back again and scaring him half to death.

"I don't know who you are, I don't listen to your music, and you're not cute, so I'm warning you right now before you waste your time and money on me." the girl shrugged.

"You think I want sex?

"You've never heard of Kofi K? You've never heard Flex Ed 2?" Bayley asked.

"Nigga you named your mixtape 'Flex Ed?'" Xavier asked, with a laugh.

"No, it's Flex Ed 2. The sequel to my debut mixtape, Flexual Educa$hion, with a dollar sign as the S."

"Education doesn't have an S." Sasha and Xavier said, in unison.

"Look, that's not the point. Why can't I just do something like buy you a shot without an alterior motive?"

The bartender handed Xavier his 3 shots.

"You're right. Maybe you don't want sex. Maybe you bought me a shot out of the kindness of your heart for no reason at all. If that's the case, thank you. Now please leave me the fuck alone. My name's Sasha by the way."

Kofi simply nodded.

"What about you?" Kofi asked pointing at Bayley.

"Woah, woah, dude." Big E complained.

Xavier drank one of his shots.

"I like your music and all, but I'm not the 'club hook-up' kinda girl. I've never even kissed a guy. And besides, you're not famous enough." Bayley said, drinking her shot.

"Not famous enough?"

"Yeah, you got like 400 followers on SoundCloud."

"526." Kofi said, crossing his arms.

Sasha tried not to laugh.

Xavier drank his second shot.

"If you were like, Lil Yachty or something, then yeah I'd go home with you in a heartbeat." Bayley said.

"Lil Yachty!? Are you kidding me, that nigga is ugly as hell!"

"He also has 517,000 followers on SoundCloud." Sasha said, pointing at her phone.

"He's trash!" Kofi exclaimed.

"Tell that to the 516,500 people that follow him and not you." The bartender said, still mixing drinks.

"So ya'll just fuck anybody with 500k followers? That's what generation we in?" Kofi asked.

"I don't." Bayley said.

"Wasn't talking to you, Virgin Mary."

Bayley rolled her eyes as Sasha laughed.

"Like I said before, dude, you got no clout and you're not cute."

"Not cute? What's cute to you?"

"Him." Sasha said, pointing at Xavier.

"WHAT!?" Kofi yelled, as Xavier drank his 3rd shot.

"Yeah, he's cute. You two should switch seats."

"Gameplan, huddle up." Kofi said, grabbing Xavier and walking away from the bar. Big E and Titus followed as Bayley and Sasha sat confused.

Xavier looked confused as the four of them got into an actual football style huddle. Kofi looked at Titus and rolled his eyes.

"Titus, get out of the huddle."

"Why?"

"This play ain't for you." Kofi said, pushing him away.

"Man, I never get the ball!" Titus exclaimed, walking over to the dancefloor.

"Alright, X, she's feeling you, take my wallet, keep pumping drinks in her, bring her home. Her friend is gonna want to come with. We get them to the house, you and Ms. Hard-To-Get can whatever-whatever, and when you're done with her, just pass her off to me, she'll never even notice. E, just keep the other one busy."

"How about this plan. You find a girl that actually wants to have sex with you, and you take her home, and you have sex with her. See that way, you don't have to date rape anybody." Xavier said.

"Woah, woah, I'm not raping her! I'm just gonna use you to get her drunk and lure her to my house so I can have sex with her."

"That sounds kinda rape-y nigga, I'm just saying." Big E said, shrugging.

"Man whatever then, new gameplan. I'mma find another girl. E, keep talking to that virgin girl. If X is taking her friend home, she's probably gonna-"

"I'm not taking her friend home." Xavier said.

"...excuse me?" Kofi asked.

"Remember what we were talking about earlier? Naomi?"

"Who's Naomi?" Big E asked.

Kofi sighed.

"His ex that kicked him out."

"She's the mother of my daughter."

"I'm sorry, correction, his annoying ass baby mama that kicked him out. Happy now?" Kofi asked.

Xavier rolled his eyes.

"She broke up with you?" Big E asked.

"No... well... yeah... kinda... Look I'm sure we're gonna be back together any day now, it's temporary. I'm not gonna hook up with a random girl at a bar."

Big E thought for a second.

"What does this 'Naomi' look like?"

"That doesn't matter." Xavier said.

Kofi pulled out his phone.

"She thick as hell, hold up, let me pull up her Instagram."

Xavier glared at Kofi as he pulled up a picture and showed it to Big E.

"Yeah, she thicker than a bible." Big E said, nodding in agreement.

"Why did ya'll break up?" Kofi asked.

Xavier ignored him and began walking back to the bar.

"HEY MAN, REMEMBER THE GAMEPLAN!... BLUE 42, BLUE 42... HIKE!" Big E called out to him.

Xavier sat down next to Sasha. He raised his hand to get the bartender's attention.

"Can I get a water?"

"Not a heavy drinker?" Sasha asked.

"21st birthday."

Sasha nodded.

"Happy birthday."

"Thanks."

"How do you know SoundCloud boy?"

"Annoying cousin."

Sasha chuckled.

"Is he any good?"

"I don't listen to him." Xavier shrugged.

The bartender handed Xavier a glass of water and placed a bottle of rum next to it.

"Fellas down the bar bought it for ya." he said.

Xavier looked down to see Kofi and Big E giving him a thumbs up.

"Wow." Xavier said, just staring at the bottle.

"What?" Sasha asked.

"Nothing."

"From the fellas down the bar as well." The bartender said, putting 13 shots in front of Sasha.

"If dreadlocks comes back, don't let me leave with him." Sasha said to Bayley, before drinking one of the shots.

* * *

Kofi and Big E returned from the dancefloor, walking with a girl.

"That's cool, what did you say your name was again?" Kofi asked.

"Cameron."

"Cameron, that's right. Lit. Well, we'll go back to the house, I just gotta go to the bar and find my cous..."

They arrived at the bar to see Bayley sitting next to the bottle, which was 3/5ths empty, and the 13 empty shot glasses

"Did X drink all this!?" Kofi asked, looking at the bottle.

"Yep." Bayley said.

"Where is he?" Big E asked.

Bayley shrugged.

"I don't know, Sasha said they'd be right back."

Kofi began walking to the men's bathroom.

Once he reached the door, he poked his head in and saw Xavier's clothes and Sasha's clothes on the ground.

He rolled his eyes and closed it.

Kofi returned to the bar, pulling Big E to the side.

"X took her into the bathroom."

"Bruh are you serious?"

"Deadass."

"What do we do now?"

"What do you mean WE? I got my girl. You better start talking to Virgin Mary cause as soon as Xavier comes back, we're leaving."

Big E sighed, sitting next to Bayley.

"Are you sure you don't wanna leave with us?"

"Yeah. I would go with you guys if Sasha did, but, it looks like they made other arrangements."

Big E sighed.

"Nice talking to you... Big E by the way."

"Bayley." She smiled, giving him an awkward thumbs up.

* * *

Big E drove as Kofi sat in the passenger seat. Cameron sat in the backseat, next to Xavier, who was completely drunk.

"You're the worst teammate ever." Kofi laughed.

"Huh?" Xavier asked, as if he was woken up out of his sleep. He covered his mouth as if he wasn't feeling well.

"You were supposed to take that girl home, then what's her face would've came with her and E would've had a chance."

"Her name was Bayley." Big E said, sadly.

"Yeah, E was gonna smash Bayley, and you ruined it."

Xavier immediately vomited in Cameron's lap.

"YO WHAT THE FUCK!?" Kofi said.

"I wanna go home." Cameron said.

"But we-"

"Now." She said, crossing her arms.

"I'mma kill X. I really am." Kofi said, making a U-Turn.

* * *

Once they took Cameron home, they rode in the car in silence.

"Why are you mad at me? You told me to get some pussy and get drunk and I did." Xavier slurred.

"Yeah, but you're the only one of us that did!" Big E said, annoyed.

Xavier started laughing.

"That's cause... cause ya'll niggas ugly and I'm cute as... fuck!"

"Never taking X to the club again." Kofi said, shaking his head.

"And I got Sasha's number, and I got her Snapchat too... you know what... FUCK Naomi, I don't... fucking need... her. You know what... I'm gonna text her that right now."

Kofi grabbed Xavier's phone.

"Hey!" Xavier protested, weakly reaching for his phone back

"You're not drunk texting Naomi." Kofi said.

"You should let him after he ruined both of our nights." Big E said.

Kofi pushed some buttons, then placed his phone over Xavier's phone, causing his own phone to vibrate.

"What are you doing?" Xavier said, still reaching for his phone.

"I added Sasha on Snapchat." Kofi said, putting Xavier's phone in his pocket.

"She don't want you bro! Nobody cares about your... flex... shit... or whatever the fuck..."

Xavier began to throw up again.

"Bruuuuuuh." Kofi sighed.

"Can you please drop this nigga off at his Mom's house." Big E said.

"I can't take him to Auntie Annie's like this."

"Alright, let him sleep on the couch, but give him like a bucket or something."


	2. Lil Yachty Or Something (Part 2)

Xavier woke up, on the couch, with an empty bucket next to his head. He looked around the unfamiliar apartment.

"I FLEX CAUSE I GET CHECKS! I FLEX CAUSE I GET CHECKS! ELASTIC POCKETS FINNA STRETCH! BALL SO HARD I'M GETTING TECHS!"

Xavier got up and walked down the hall, to find the source of the shouting. He passed Big E, who was in the kitchen, pouring milk into a bowl of salad. Xavier looked at him for a second, confused, before continuing down the hall and opening Kofi's bedroom door.

"FLEXI-... Damn, X! That was a good take!" Kofi said, taking his headphones off.

Xavier looked at Kofi's microphone and laptop set up.

"Hey, can you take me home?" Xavier asked.

"Sure." Kofi sighed, getting up and following Xavier out of the bedroom door.

Xavier looked down at his phone, and saw a notification for a Snapchat message from a contact listed as "Sasha". It said "why did you give him my snapchat?" with angry and sad emojiis. He struggled to remember what happened, or who Sasha even was. As they walked out of the front door, he went to her Snapchat story, and immediately recognized her as the girl with pink hair.

"What happened last night after you bought me the bottle?" Xavier asked, as they got into Kofi's car.

"You fucked the girl in the bathroom, essentially cockblocking Big E in the process, then you threw up on the girl I was tryna take home." Kofi said, still annoyed.

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah, right on her lap."

"No, the first part!"

"...yeah. Her name was... Sasha. Yeah, Sasha."

"Dude, are you sure I had sex with her!?"

"No. I just know you two were buck naked in a stall in the men's bathroom at the club for like 20 minutes. I suppose ya'll could've been playing Odds and Evens but I doubt it."

"I don't remember that at all!"

"Damn, that sucks."

"...how did you get her Snapchat?"

"I told you, I scanned it off your phone." Kofi said.

Xavier typed "He kinda just took it" in response to Sasha.

"Bruh, what am I supposed to tell Naomi!?"

"...uh... I don't think you're supposed to alert your ex after you fuck somebody. I could be wrong."

"NAOMI IS NOT MY EX!" Xavier exclaimed.

"So you're still dating her?"

"YES!"

"But she broke up with you?"

"YES!"

"And she kicked you out the house?"

"YES!"

"So she said the relationship is over?"

"YES!"

"But it's not over?"

"YES! I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"So the relationship ended, but ya'll still in a relationship."

"The relationship didn't end."

"But she said it did?"

"Yes."

"So... she broke up with you, but ya'll still dating?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, that's the part I don't understand."

"She said it's over but it's not over because we always say it's over and it's never over." Xavier said, trying to rationalize it in his head as he was saying it.

"Okay, one more time. Just for clarification. Last night, you cheated on your girlfriend, AFTER she broke up with you, but it's still technically cheating because you guys aren't really broken up, even though she said you're really broken up?" Kofi asked, confused.

"That's what I've been saying since I got in the car."

Xavier's phone vibrated with another message from Sasha.

"What did Sasha say?" Kofi asked.

"Why do you think that's Sasha messaging me?" Xavier asked back.

"When the notification light is yellow, it's a Snapchat. Nobody Snapchats your lame ass."

"You don't know me, Kofi."

"What did Sasha say?"

Xavier sighed, rolling his eyes.

"She said 'I know this is so backwards considering what happened last night, but you seem like a really cool guy and I'd like to get to know you. Do you want to go to dinner tomorrow?'."

"Wow. You're gonna have to block her."

"Block her!?"

"Yeah, when one night stands are tryna be wifey you gotta reality check them bruh. Besides, you got your girlfriend... who broke up with you... but not really broke up with you... but kicked you out and hasn't talked to you in 6 days."

"I can't just fuck her and then completely ignore her the next day." Xavier said, as Kofi parked outside.

"So what are you gonna say?"

"I said 'I'll have to see'. I'm gonna tell Naomi what happened, and see how that works out."

Kofi rolled his eyes.

"Good luck, X. See ya."

"Bye. Thanks." Xavier said, getting out of the car.

* * *

Kofi and Big E sat in the make-shift studio, smoking weed.

"Bruh, last night was like a reality check. I really gotta start taking off with this music shit." Kofi said.

"You making Flex Ed 3?"

"Man, I'm running out of Flex puns." Kofi said, looking at his tracklists.

The tracklist for "Flexual Educa$ion" was

1\. Flex-Rated  
2\. Tyrannosaurus Flex  
3\. Flexercise  
4\. Flexplanation  
5\. 6 Side Watch (Flexagon)  
6\. Polar Flexpress  
7\. Lead By Flexample  
8\. Houston, Flexus

The tracklist for "Flex Ed 2" was

1\. Intro  
2\. Still Flexing  
3\. Flexperience  
4\. Flex  
5\. Flexico  
6\. Special E-Flex  
7\. Flex (Remix)

"Maybe you need, like a new gimmick." Big E said.

"Like what?"

"I'ont know. Flexing is getting old. You need dimensions. Lil Uzi don't just flex on niggas every song. Sometimes he talks about arguing with his girl or some shit. You can only make so many songs with the same subject matter before it gets redundant."

"Man, fuck that. All I need is a team around me. I need some producers, so I don't gotta use free beats off YouTube, I need a manager, I need somebody to start getting Flexing merchandise made-"

"An accountant to price all this shit out."

"Yeah, an accountant... uh... what else?"

"PR/Social Media manager to make sure you don't say no crazy shit. A ghostwriter wouldn't hurt."

"You tryna say I'm trash?"

"No, I'm just saying. Drake got ghostwriters, why can't you?"

"I don't need a ghostwriter. I got it all up here." Kofi said, pointing at his head.

"Alright, well... keep on with your music and shit, I'm gonna finish this deer cereal and start looking into filling these positions."

"Nigga what the fuck is deer cereal?"

"Carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes in a bowl of milk."

"...who taught you that?"

"My uncle used to eat it."

Kofi rolled his eyes and sighed, putting on the headphones.

* * *

Two hours later, Big E was sitting at the computer chair, as Kofi sat on the bean bag near it.

"You remember Tyler from high school?"

"Tyler who?" Kofi asked.

"Breeze."

"...not really."

"Well he's a sound engineer."

"What's that mean?"

"He mixes and masters songs."

"And that means..."

"He adds effects and makes them sound good." Big E said.

"What does that got to do with me?"

"You make music. He could mix and master your shit. He got a studio too."

"My shit is fine the way it is."

"But it could be better, ya know? AutoTune, reverb, echos, all that Travis Scott type shit. That's why you only got 500 followers."

"526!"

"I'm just saying..."

"Saying that?"

"Yachty use AutoTune." Big E shrugged.

"That nigga is terrible!"

"You're not wrong, but you're not seeing the big picture."

Big E clicked a button and a song started playing.

"Who's this?" Kofi asked, smiling, nodding his head.

"R-Truth."

"Man fuck that nigga! He went to school with us, he live right around the fucking corner, and he got 250 more followers than me, and he's not even good!"

"But you're nodding your head."

"Cause the beat, man. The beat, and the autotune and... man, who made the beat?"

"Somebody named 'Soulless Senpai'."

"Find their SoundCloud account and hit them up."

Big E did some typing.

"Found it... he's from Ireland but he lives in here. He has some white girl with orange hair as his profile pic."

"Tell him I'm interested working with him."

Big E nodded.

"Oh, and tell that Tyler nigga we'll be at his studio tomorrow."

"Gotchu."

"I gotta come up with some melodies for this AutoTune shit. I'mma be on my Kanye shit... Fleeeeeexin, nah I don't like that. Fleeeeeeeexin on these niggas, I be fleeeee-"

"He already hit you back." Big E said.

"What he say?"

"He said, 'Awesome! I like Flexperience. Is there any specific sound you're looking for?'."

Kofi thought.

"Nah, just give him the address to Tyler's studio and tell him to bring some beats."

* * *

It was about 7PM. Xavier stared at his phone, debating on whether or not to call Naomi.

He pulled up her contact, and hovered his thumb above the call button.

Just then, he received a text message from Sasha, saying "It's fine if you don't want to see me again. I understand."

An immediate wave of guilt hit him. Before he could respond, his phone started ringing.

"Hello?" Xavier, asked, eagerly answering.

"Hey." Naomi said, on the other line.

"What's up?"

"I have a date tonight, I need you to come watch Valentine."

"...wait, what?"

"I have a date tonight, I need you to watch Valentine for me."

"A date!? With who!?"

"With Mynger."

"Mynger?"

"Yeah, Mynger Business."

"Naomi, I'm serious."

"I'm serious too."

"Why are you going on a date!?" Xavier asked.

"Because I'm single? If you don't come over and watch her I'm gonna have to take her to my sister."

"Valentine doesn't need to be around your sister's bad ass kids."

"Then come and spend some quality time with her. She'll enjoy it."

"...I'm on my way." Xavier hung up.

Xavier texted back "Does Five Guys at 6 o'clock sound good to you?" before leaving his mother's house, and beginning to walk to Naomi's.

* * *

The girl from the SoundCloud profile picture of the producer Big E found was sitting in a college lecture, with her headphones plugged into her laptop.

"Becky, are you even taking notes?" The girl sitting next to her asked.

"No, I'm finishing this beat. I'm playing beats for a rapper tomorrow, and I really think he'd like this one. It has like a Big Sean type vibe, but not like lame 2012 Big Sean, it's more like lit 2017 Big Sean." Becky replied, in her thick Irish accent.

"We have an exam in a week."

"I'm not gonna need college if one of these rappers in town makes a hit song on one of my beats. Tell me what you think of this 808." Becky said, handing her the headphones.

The girl put them on.

"I don't know anything about... hey... this sounds really good." She said, smiling, nodding her head.

"Thanks Nattie. You should follow me on SoundCloud. SoundCloud dot com slash Soulless Senpai."

Nattie looked confused.

"Why Soulless Senpai?"

"I'm ginger." Becky shrugged.

* * *

When Xavier arrived, he saw a light skinned man in a suit, standing by a car in front of the house. He was wearing glasses, and had his hair in a short ponytail.

"You must be Xavier." The man said.

"Yeah..." Xavier said, slowly shaking his hand.

"Jimmy."

Xavier simply nodded, before walking in.

He noticed Naomi's make up and rolled his eyes.

"You're going on a date with a nigga named Jimmy who wears bow-ties?" Xavier asked, looking skeptically at Naomi.

"He's wearing a bow-tie?" She asked, handing their year-old daughter Valentine to him.

"Yeah, he looks like the Pringles guy, except light skin."

"He's Samoan."

"Good for him."

"...Well I'll be back... you can stay here tonight on the couch, there's food in the fri-"

"Hey! Hey Val! Hey Val! Did you miss Daddy!? I missed you too! Mommy's going on a date with some corny dude!" Xavier said, nuzzling her nose with his own.

Valentine laughed and began kicking her feet.

"It's a good thing I like 'corny dudes' or else I would've never dated you." Naomi said, leaving.

Xavier sat Valentine on the couch, before sitting next to her and turning on the TV.


	3. 7 Percent

Xavier slowly woke up, on the couch, to hear Naomi pouring cereal in the kitchen.

"What time is it?" Xavier asked.

"9:03."

"WHAT!?"

"9:04 now."

"I'm supposed to be at work at 9."

"A little too late for that." Naomi said, with a laugh.

Xavier started to leave.

"Wait, Naomi, can I, uh... can I borrow $30?"

"For what?"

"Uh... for uh... I got, like... something important..."

"No."

Xavier nodded and left.

* * *

Alexa stood behind a kiosk, watching Apollo stand in the middle of the airport.

"Sir, do you have a moment to talk about your cellphone plan?" Apollo asked, approaching a man, walking with his two kids.

"No thanks."

Apollo simply sighed. Alexa immediately came over.

"Umm... sir?"

The man stopped and turned around.

"It'll be really quick and you can save up to $120 a year." Alexa said.

The man sighed.

"Okay, fine."

Apollo smiled at Alexa, as she walked away.

"Well it's pretty simple, you see..." Apollo said, beginning to explain.

Alexa walked back over to their kiosk, to see Xavier standing there.

"You're late."

"A little bit." Xavier shrugged.

"25 minutes."

"Overslept. Hey, can I borrow $30?"

"Why?"

"I got a date tonight. I'll pay you back Friday."

Alexa sighed, rolling her eyes, and reaching into her pocket.

* * *

"Kofi, this is Tyler, Tyler, this is Kofi." Big E said, as they walked into the recording studio, to see Becky and Tyler, already sitting behind the mixing console.

Kofi shook his hand, and then Becky's.

"And you are?"

"Becky."

"Nice to meet you. I'm not sure where my producer is, he's supposed to be here. Lemme hit him up on-"

"I'm right here." Becky said, with a laugh.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm Soulless Senpai."

Big E raised his eyebrows.

"Oh! Okay! That's weird, cause you're... you know... a girl... and white... and British." Kofi said.

"Irish."

"Yeah, something like that."

Becky sighed, and began playing one of her beats.

"Too Drake-ish." Kofi said almost immediately.

She hit a button and another one came on.

"Aw yeah. I fuck with this one. This the one. That old school Gucci type shit. I already got a hook for it too, lemme find it in my phone." Kofi said, stepping into the recording booth and putting on the headphones.

* * *

"So what should I wear?" Sasha asked, nervously looking through her clothes.

"...it's Five Guys." Bayley said.

Sasha rolled her eyes.

"It's still a date."

"I'd wear some socks, some underwear, some pants, shoes, probably a shirt and bra."

"Bayley, I'm serious."

Just then, Sasha's phone vibrated.

"Who's that?" Sasha asked, inside of her closet.

Bayley picked up Sasha's phone.

"It's a Snapchat from 'K Da King'."

Sasha groaned.

"It's the SoundCloud dude from the bar. Open it and don't respond."

Bayley hit play, and a video of Kofi, in the studio, sitting next to Tyler appeared, with a song playing in the background.

"FLY YOUNG GENTLEMAN, MY NICKNAME F.Y.G., BAPE HOODIE ZIPPED DOWN, X.Y.Z., HA, MORE LIKE FLEX-Y-Z, YUH! MORE LIKE FLEX-Y-Z, AYE!, MORE LIKE LIKE FLE-"

The video cut off.

"That was kinda lit." Bayley said.

"Replay it." Sasha said.

Bayley held down the message, in order to use the option to replay it once more, before it disappeared forever.

"FLY YOUNG GENTLEMAN, MY NICKNAME F.Y.G., BAPE HOODIE ZIPPED DOWN, XYZ, HA, MORE LIKE FLEX-Y-Z, YUH! MORE LIKE FLEX-Y-Z, AYE!, MORE LIKE LIKE FLE-"

"Wow. I actually kinda like that. Send a fire emoji... just one though."

* * *

Tyler worked on arranging all of the vocals, and putting together the best takes, while Kofi, Big E, and Becky sat down next to him, bored.

"Alright, so me and E were debating our Top 5 rappers of all time. This nigga said Tupac, J. Cole, Biggie, Kendrick, and Drake. I said Wayne, Gucci, Jeezy, Andre 3000, and T.I., who you got?"

Becky thought for a second.

"Eminem, Tupac, Jay-Z, Kendrick, and Kanye."

Before Big E and Kofi could respond, Kofi's song started playing through the speakers.

"This is the best song you've ever done." Tyler said.

Tyler played with different reverb effects on Kofi's vocals.

"Meh."

"Ain't no meh. This the one." Big E said. Kofi shrugged again.

"I guess you could say the song was a Flexcess." Becky laughed.

"...wait what you just say?" Kofi asked.

"I... nothing. It was a dumb joke. I like puns." Becky said, slightly embarrassed.

"But Flexcess? Like... like success?"

"Yeah?"

"Here we go." Big E sighed.

"Turn on another beat. I gotta use that."

Kofi got up and walked back into the recording booth, mumbling the word Flexcess to himself.

* * *

Xavier walked into his parents' house, where his father was sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Dad."

"You and that girl still arguing?" He asked, sounding annoyed.

"Nice to see you too."

Xavier went into the fridge and pulled out a can of soda.

"Hey can I use the car tonight?"

"No. We're going on a date."

Xavier sighed and nodded.

"You took a soda out of the fridge, the least you could do is put a warm one back in. It ain't rocket science."

Xavier reached into the cabinet, grabbing a soda, and putting it in the fridge.

* * *

Kofi was driving, with Big E in the passenger seat.

"He said the mixes should be done by tomorrow." Big E said.

"Man that's 4 BANGERS. In one day. Two more days of work and we got a mixtape."

"I think you should just drop them as singles and blow up like that. Like Kyle."

"Who the fuck is Kyle?" Kofi asked.

"The iSpy nigga."

"Bro why does everybody always gotta find a way to bring up Lil Yachty? That nigga is GARBAGE!"

"Didn't even mention him."

"But he's on iSpy."

"So? He's on everything. iSpy, Broccoli, that Target commerical,-"

"I get it! Damn! Just shut up, turn on the radio or something." Kofi said.

Big E turned on the radio, as Peek A Boo by Lil Yachty featuring Migos started playing.

"PLAY WITH THAT MONEY LIKE PEEK A BOO, OOO, PLAY WITH THESE BITCHES LIKE PEEK A BOO, OOO, BROKE ASS, BITCH ASS NIGGA, I'M NOT FINNA PLAY WITH YOU, THAT'S WHAT THESE RAPPERS DO, PEEK A BOO PEEK A BOO PEE-"

Kofi immediately turned the radio off.

"FUCK LIL YACHTY!" He screamed.

They rode in silence for a bit.

"That song is kinda hard." Big E said.

"...yeah."

Kofi turned it back on.

They pulled up to their apartment, to see Xavier sitting in front of the front door.

"Yo X, what's going on?" Kofi asked, as they got out of the car.

"I got a date, can I borrow the car?" Xavier asked.

"You got a date!? Look at you! Not moping around about Naomi no more! What she look like?"

"Sasha."

Kofi's smile disappeared, as Big E looked confused.

"You found another girl that looks like Sasha?" Big E asked.

"No, he's going on a date with Sasha." Kofi said, rolling his eyes.

He threw Xavier the keys.

"Hey. She said my new song fire. Just saying. Don't be surprised when you come over and she's already here." Kofi said, shrugging.

Xavier ignored him, getting into the car.

"You're welcome!" he said, as Xavier closed the door and started the car.

He typed Sasha's address into the GPS on his phone and began driving.

* * *

"Yeah, I went to college at Florida State for a bit. I dropped out." Sasha said.

Xavier nodded, sitting across the table.

"I dropped out of college too."

"Where'd you go?" Sasha asked, taking a bite of her burger.

"Princeton."

Sasha started choking on her burger.

"Sasha! Are you okay!?"

She managed to swallow it.

"You went where!?"

"Princeton."

"Like... Ivy League Princeton!?"

"Yeah."

"You got into Princeton!?"

"Uh..." Xavier began.

"Sorry. Not that you're dumb or anything. Just... only like 10% of people who apply to Princeton get in."

"7%."

"Oh... well... why'd you drop out?"

Just then, his phone started ringing. It was Naomi.

"Sorry, I gotta take this." Xavier said.

Sasha nodded, as Xavier answered it.

"Hello?"

"Val keeps asking for you, just tell her good night." Naomi said, sounding annoyed.

"Uh... okay... hey Val?"

"Dada." she said, as Naomi held the phone up to her ear.

"Hey. Um, it's, it's time to go to bed, okay?... Sorry I can't be there right now but... I'll pick you up tomorrow and we can play, okay?"

Valentine responded in gibberish, while Sasha patiently waited.

"Yup. Mmhmm. That's right, Val. I love you. Goodnight."

Naomi hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Sasha asked, as Xavier hung up.

"My daughter. Anyway, about Princeton, it's difficult to get into. You gotta have a 3.9 GPA just to-"

"You have kids!?"

"N-no... no! Kids!? Nah, I don't have kids! I just... have A kid. That's not 'kids' necessarily."

Sasha sighed, and looked as if she was thinking for a bit.

"Were you married?"

"No."

"How old is your daughter?"

"16 months old."

"So... when did you and your girlfriend or whatever break up?"

"7 days ago."

"Oh... wow, that's... that's rather recently. Um... why'd you break up?"

"We kinda hate each other. And I'm kinda broke."

"You don't have a job?" Sasha asked.

"I mean, I got a job, it just sucks. It's kinda hard to get like a really really good job cause I don't have a degree, and I spent my entire school career learning stuff to help me through college so I don't have any actual skill, but... between my on-again, off-again anxiety and my crippling depression, I find the time to write. I write short stories, screenplays, stuff like that. What do you do?"

"Well... I was a theater major, and after I dropped out, I moved back in with my mom, and I do make-up tutorials on YouTube and my videos are monetized, so I make money off of that, but not that much."

"High-five for dropping out of college and living with our parents." Xavier said, sticking his hand out.

Sasha chuckled and high-fived him.

They finished their date, and continued having small talk, as they walked out of the restaurant, and Xavier drove back to her house.

"Well... here we are." Xavier said.

"Thanks. I had fun."

"Me too."

"You wanna come inside?" Sasha asked.

"Come inside of what?"

Sasha rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"That's up to you."

"Oh really?"

Just then, Bayley came out of the house, waving.

"Woooooow." Sasha said, disappointedly.

"What?"

"I forgot to tell you. Bayley moved in with us. I didn't think she would be here. You'll have to come in another time."

"Alright. See you, Sasha."

"Bye." She smiled, getting out of the car.

Xavier drove off.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing here!?" Sasha exclaimed.

"My friends flaked on me." Bayley shrugged.

"Xavier was gonna come in."

"So?"

Sasha just looked at Bayley for a few seconds.

"...Oh! That's why you wanted me to leave!"

"You're the worst teammate ever." Sasha said, walking past her, into the house.


	4. The N Word

Kofi heard a knock on the door. He looked through the peep hole, and opened the door.

"X, why the fuck you got a police knock?" Kofi asked, holding a notebook, and letting him in.

"Police have a knock?"

"Yeah, they're trained to do that knock."

"Why would police want to knock the same? Wouldn't that give away that it's a police officer at the door?"

"Look, what do you want?"

"I'm off work, and I wanted to use the car to take Sasha to-"

"Nope. Sorry, we were just about to leave." Kofi said, as Big E entered the room.

"Where you guys going?"

"The studio."

"Great, I'll go with, we can pick up Sasha on the way there." Xavier smiled, opening the front door.

"I don't have time to take you and Sasha nowhere, X."

"Just take us to the studio, we'll hang out there."

"The studio is a place of work, we don't need distractions." Big E said.

"We won't be a distraction, we'll just chill in the back, maybe offer some opinions."

"That's my job."

"Fuck it, I'll take y'all." Kofi said, walking out of the door.

E rolled his eyes, as Xavier smiled and started texting Sasha.

* * *

Kofi parked outside of Sasha's house.

"We running late, where the fuck she at?" Kofi asked.

"I told her to come outside." Xavier shrugged.

Just then, Bayley and Sasha walked out of the front door.

"Who the fuck is that?" Kofi asked, confused.

"Oh! That's the girl from the bar!" Big E exclaimed, his smile lighting up.

Sasha opened the car door.

"Hey, is it cool if Bayley comes too?"

"No." Xavier and Kofi said, in unison.

"Yes! They were kidding, come on in!" Big E said.

Kofi looked at him, confused.

"The studio is a place of work, we don't need distractions." Xavier mumbled quietly, in a mocking voice.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, get in."

"Okay cool." Sasha said, as they both got in.

"This is gonna be awesome! I've never been to a studio before." Bayley exclaimed.

Kofi said nothing, continuing the drive.

* * *

Becky and Tyler sat alone, in the empty studio.

"Where are they at?" Tyler asked, looking down at his phone.

"I don't know, they said they'd be here at noon."

"Those niggas always late."

"...what did you just say?" Becky asked, partially in shock.

"Those niggas always late?"

"Dude, you can't say that."

"What do you mean I can't say that? They're my friends, and they say it all the time."

"That's not how it works."

"What do you mean that's not how it works?" Tyler asked, with a laugh.

"I'm sure if you said it in front of them, they wouldn't like it."

"Well we'll see."

"That's not a good idea, I don't think you should-"

Just then, Kofi, E, Sasha, Bayley, and Xavier walked into the studio.

"My niggas! Wassup!"

Sasha gasped.

"Nigga don't call me a nigga." Kofi said immediately.

Xavier chuckled a bit, at the hypocrisy of Kofi's sentence. Becky simply sighed.

"What? I thought yesterday you said I was your nigga?" Tyler asked, confused.

"Nigga that don't mean you start saying it." Big E said, as Bayley, Xavier, and Sasha sat down.

"So I'm... I'm not your nigga anymore?"

"Who is this nigga?" Sasha asked, turning to Xavier.

"I don't know him." Xavier shrugged, still laughing.

"He's our engineer." Kofi said, walking into the booth.

Tyler sighed.

"Look, I just don't understand why you niggas say nigga all the time and it's fine, but when a white nigga says nigga y'all niggas wanna-"

"Say nigga one more time and see what the fuck happens." Kofi said, putting on the headphones.

"I just don't get it."

"...well basically, it's more of a reclamation thing. The word had a negative connotation for so long, and we as a people began to use it as a term of endearment, and even though you could argue at this point there's such a generational disconnect from the black people who were alive when the word first came into use as a slur and to the people that use the word today that it shouldn't matter, it's basically become an unwritten societal rule that you're not supposed to say it, unless you're around a group of black people who have specifically expressed to you that they don't take offense to you saying it. I mean, I personally don't care, but Kofi and E do, so you can't say it... sorry nigga." Xavier shrugged.

Tyler simply nodded, taking in everything Xavier had said.

"Becky." Becky said, extending a hand for a handshake.

"Xavie-"

"Sasha!" Sasha smiled, jealously, grabbing Becky's hand before Xavier could. Becky awkwardly shook it.

"I'm Bayley."

"Are you guys like his management team or something?" Becky asked.

Xavier began thinking for a bit, as if he just got an idea.

"Oh nah, X is my cousin, that's some girl he fucked at a club, and that's her friend. Play that beat with the piano roll." Kofi said, flipping through pages in his notebook.

"He's joking, I'm a friend of Xavier's." Sasha said, with a fake smile, before glaring at Kofi.

"What do you do?" Xavier asked.

"I'm the producer."

"Producer?"

"Yeah... I make beats." Becky said, turning on the beat Kofi requested.

"Unexpected."

"Is unexpected a bad thing?"

No, unexpected is good." Xavier smiled.

"Hey, Xavier, you wanna switch seats?" Sasha asked, with another fake smile.

"Uh, sure." Xavier said, standing up and sitting next to Bayley, as Sasha sat next to Becky.

Kofi cleared his throat.

"Flex 16. Kofi K. Leggo. I come through and flex, I-... hold on."

Becky stopped the beat.

"I'm running out of shit to rhyme with flex."

"You use sex yet?" Big E asked.

"Yeah."

"Checks?"

"Yeah."

"It doesn't matter what word you use as long as you change how you use them." Xavier shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"You've said, 'I flex cause I get checks' but you never like did any wordplay or anything. You can say 'I come through and flex, ain't no cereal but bitch I get checks'."

"Oooh, okay X." Big E said nodding.

Becky shook her head approvingly as well.

"That's good."

"What does cereal got to do with checks?" Kofi asked.

"Like the cereal, Chex."

"Oh!" Bayley said.

"I like that." Sasha smiled.

"Aye, that's fire. Alright, I come through and flex, ain't no cereal but bitch I get checks... killed the game, I'm coming at ya necks..." Kofi began.

"Rest In Peace, nigga, pay respects." Xavier shrugged.

"AYE!" Everyone else said in unison.

"Y'all like that?" Xavier asked, in confusion.

"Just take the notebook." Kofi said, walking out of the booth and handing him the book, along with a pencil.

* * *

Tamina sat on Naomi's couch, flipping through channels on the television.

"Okay, so Valentine's formula is right here on the-"

"Why am I watching Valentine again?"

"So I can go to work." Naomi said.

"You see that's where I'm confused. I remember a little 5'7 trombone playing Princeton dropout nigga running around here, what happened to him?"

"He no longer resides at this residence."

"Why?" Tamina asked.

"Cause I don't have time to argue every single day with a lazy, spoiled, man-child that won't do anything for himself."

"You have a daughter Naomi, she has to have her father in her life."

"She will. He can come see her all the time if he wants."

"I can tell you're not happy with this decision just by looking at you."

"If I wasn't happy with my decision, I wouldn't have made it."

"Xavier's dick is gonna be inside you in the next 48 hours, I'd bet anything on it."

"Shit, bet me. I'll take that easy money." Naomi laughed.

"I'm not gonna bet you, cause I don't wanna take your money, but it doesn't matter how many Samoan twins with bow ties you go on dates with, you and Xavier go together like Alicia and Henny."

"Every time Alicia drinks Hennessy she ends up doing a bunch of regrettable things and it always ends in disaster."

"Just like you and Xavier. But you both always end up back together cause you can't live without each other."

"What's your point?"

"That you and Xavier are going to be together forever, and that Alicia is an alcoholic and we as friends should probably be concerned for her."

"Me and Xavier are already broken up, so your theory is wrong, and Alicia isn't an alcoholic, she's a HennyHolic, there's a difference."

"Have fun in denial-oops I mean have fun at work." Tamina smiled.

"Xavier will be here sometime to pick up Valentine." Naomi said, leaving.

* * *

Xavier wrote for about 5 minutes, before clearing his throat.

"I come through and flex. Ain't no cereal but bitch I get checks. Killed the game, I'm coming at ya necks. Rest In Peace, nigga, pay respects. Wood floor, my house look like it's Shrek's. Diamonds shining, look like special effects. My ex look perplexed cause my checks looking stretched. I'm the best of the best, so I know I'm up next. Stephen Spielberg, pulling up in the Lex. Malcolm X when I put on my specks. Oh man god damn, I ball like Famous Dex. Money old, Tyrannosaurus Rex. On a yacht with bout like thirty decks. Voodoo drop top cast em with a hex. All I need, money weed and some sex. Young and rich, what the fuck you expect? Flex."

"BRUH!" Big E exclaimed.

"Oh my fucking god, that's amazing." Sasha said.

"That shit, is CRAZY." Kofi shouted.

"Bruh, that was terrible." Xavier said.

"What are you talking about!?" Bayley asked.

Becky shrugged.

"It's not like super lyrical, but for trap song that's really really good."

"I said 'voodoo drop top cast em with hex'. What the fuck is a Voodoo Drop Top? I just made that up."

"It sounds good." Big E shrugged.

"Xavier shrugged back.

"That's gone be the hottest 16 on the tape, let me see that, I gotta record that."

"I'll give you the notebook if you make me your manager." Xavier said.

Kofi sighed.

"You do need a team around you if you're going to start to get serious about all this. My friend Charlotte is going for her public relations and marketing degree right now, she should manage your public persona, Xavier can do the business side of things?" Becky asked.

Kofi sighed again.

"X, what you know about management?"

"I dropped out of Princeton."

"You went to Princeton!?" Becky, Big E, Bayley, and Tyler exclaimed, in unison.

"What the fuck is Princeton?" Kofi asked.

"Bro, you hired as fuck." Big E said.

Tyler laughed.

"Don't you have to have like a 3.8 GPA to even get in there?"

"3.9 actually. Only 7% of applicants get in." Xavier said.

"Can't be that smart if he dropped out." Kofi shrugged.

"Kanye dropped out and Kanye's a genius."

"Tyler, shut up, Kanye is not a genius."

"Take that back right now." Becky said, very seriously.

"Kanye's not that good, y'all dick riding." Kofi laughed.

"1st off, Kanye has 4 classic albums, 2nd off, we're not talking about Kanye here we're talking about me." Xavier said.

"Kanye only got 3 classics." Big E said, drinking his water bottle.

"3 is pushing it, I say two." Kofi said, crossing his arms.

Becky looked in shock.

"He easily has five, what the hell are you guys talking about?"

"Five!?" Xavier, Kofi, and Big E asked in unison.

"College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation, 808s & Heartbreak, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy." Becky said.

"808s is not classic." Xavier laughed.

"I can see why you'd think that, you're not a producer. The instrumentals on there are insane."

"What about Yeezus?" Tyler asked.

"Yeezus is really good, but classic is pushing it." Becky shrugged.

Kofi rolled his eyes.

"Yeezus is trash, 808s is decent, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is okay, College Dropout got some heat, but it ain't classic, Kanye got 2 great albums, please stop deepthroating that man."

"Dropout is definitely classic, you're crazy." Big E said.

"Okay, once again, let me reel it in. Dark Fantasy is one of the best, if not THE best rap album of all time." Xavier began.

Becky reached over and high-fived him.

Kofi laughed.

"Secondly, 808s is really good, I don't know about classic, but it changed music, influenced Drake, Kid Cudi, Future, basically every melodic rapper we have today. Dropout, Registration, and Graduation are all classics. Yeezus and The Life Of Pablo are cool, but they could've been a lot better, and last but not least, let me be your manager, I'm smart."

"Wait, which one is the one with Gold Digger?" Sasha asked.

"Registration." Becky said.

"Alright that's classic. Which ones the one with Stronger?"

"Graduation." Xavier said.

"Alright, classic. Heartless?"

"808s."

"Yeah those 3 albums are his classics." Sasha laughed.

"You've never listened to them all the way through, your opinion's not exactly valuable, anyway, Kofi, let me manage you."

"...I'll tell you what, I'll sit down and listen to the Dark Fantasy jawn again." Kofi said.

"Okay, but can I be your manager?"

"Sure."

"Great, here you go. Enjoy the verse. As your manager, I'm going to need your car real quick."

"What for?" Kofi asked.

"I have to go pick up Valentine, I'll come get you from the studio later, Becky, Tyler, it was nice meeting you. Sasha, Bayley, you guys ready?"

"I wanna stay." Bayley said.

"Yesss! I mean, achoo." Big E said.

"Bless you."

"Alright cool, we'll be back in like 2 hours, uh, yeah, continue flexing on those niggas Kofi, good luck." Xavier said, grabbing the keys.

Kofi walked back into the recording booth and Becky turned the beat back on, and Sasha and Xavier left.

* * *

"She's so cute, can I hold her?" Sasha asked, sitting on Xavier's parents' couch.

"Sure." Xavier said, handing Valentine to her.

"Hey! Hey!" Sasha said, excitedly, close to Valentine's face.

"Mommy."

Sasha's smile immediately disappeared as Xavier looked a bit worried.

"Nooooo, no, no, no. Sasha." Sasha laughed.

"Mommy."

"Sasha."

"Mommy."

"Sasha."

"Mommy."

"You know what, let's give you back to daddy." Sasha said, handing her back to Xavier.

"Daddy." Xavier repeated with a chuckle.

"You didn't laugh when I called you that in the bathroom at the club."

"You called me that?"

"Yeah."

"How do you remember that? I don't remember anything."

"Because you were blackout drunk, I was just regular drunk." Sasha shrugged.

"We'll finish this conversation, you know, when children aren't present."

Sasha simply nodded.

* * *

Xavier was in the driver's seat, with Kofi in the passenger seat. Sasha was in the back, holding Valentine, and sitting next to Big E and Bayley.

"Say Uncle Kofi again." Kofi laughed.

"Uncle Kofi." Valentine smiled.

"Now say Sasha."

"Mommy."

Everyone in the car laughed.

"Bruh Naomi gone kill you, X." Kofi said.

"Her name's Naomi?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah... do you know her?" Xavier asked, nervously.

"No."

"Good."

"Huh?"

"I said, Kofi, did the song turn out good?" Xavier lied, as Kofi laughed.

"Bruh, past 2 days we knocked out 6 songs. We got Flex-Y-Z, Flex 16, Queen B, Scarf, Breadwinners, and Kevin Garnett."

"Haven't heard 5 of those."

"I heard them all. My favorite is Queen B, it's FIRE!" Bayley said.

"Play them."

"Tyler got all the files, he's making sure everything is leveled and shit." Kofi said.

Xavier nodded.

They pulled up to Sasha's house, letting Bayley and Sasha out, before driving to and arriving at Naomi's house.

Xavier walked to the door, carrying Valentine, and rung the doorbell.

Naomi opened the door and Xavier walked in.

"She's knocked out." Xavier laughed.

"Wait here one second." Naomi said, grabbing Valentine and taking her to her room.

She returned to the living room.

"Do you wanna fuck?"

"Uh..." Xavier began.

Naomi immediately grabbed Xavier's head and kissed him.

Xavier broke free.

"Wait!"

Xavier ran out of the house, and back to the car, handing Kofi the keys.

"Hey, I'm staying here tonight, y'all can go home." Xavier said, running back into the house.

"Wait, what!? Why!?" Kofi shouted from his car window, as Xavier closed the door behind him.

"I guess we ain't gone be seeing Sasha for a little while." Big E shrugged, getting in the front seat.

"I don't know what X is thinking. Yeah, Naomi is bad, but Sasha is BAD bro."

"Nah, it's the other way around, Sasha looks good, but Naomi? DAMN."

"Okay look, first off, she lightskinned. Point Sasha. She fucked on the first night, she's clearly a freak. Point Sasha. And she found out the nigga got a kid, and she didn't leave. That's loyalty. Once again, point Sasha."

"Okay, but Naomi's ass is like 4 points, so she still up 4-3."

"We gotta come up with a point system." Kofi said, as Big E began to drive away from the house.


	5. Sahsa

Xavier yawned in the backseat of the car, while Big E drove and Kofi sat in the passenger seat.

"We made a Venn Diagram comparing Sasha and Naomi for you." Big E said.

Xavier looked confused.

"Wait, what? Why?"

"You fucked Naomi last night, right?"

"You don't know that."

"Alright, you fucked Naomi, well we made a Venn Diagram-"

"That's that little joint with the two interlocking circles by the way." Kofi added.

"Yeah, it's two interlocking circles, in each circle it has a list of unique characteristi-"

"I know what a Venn Diagram is." Xavier said, as Big E parked in the parking lot of the studio.

"We left it at the house, but we'll show it to you later."

They all got out of the car.

"Okay, why did you two make a Venn Diagram comparing two human beings as if they were objects, and why do you want me to see it?"

"Just to help guide you through your decision making process."

Xavier rolled his eyes, as they entered the studio, Becky and Tyler were already there, as usual. Tyler had headphones on, listening back to the final mixes.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" Xavier asked.

"Making the tracklist and developing a tentative release schedule. I gathered a list of local events and other local rappers release dates for us to plan around and find the smartest times to drop stuff." Becky said, pulling out her notebook.

"Wow... that's... that's really impressive. I mean... as his manager, it's kinda my job to consider his scheduling and all that."

"Yeah I know, you're welcome." She said, with a smile.

"I can't tell if you're being nice or you're doing this because you think I don't know what I'm doing."

"I'm being nice and doing this BECAUSE you don't know what you're doing."

Big E chuckled, as he sat down. Kofi sat down as well, as Xavier remained standing.

"Why do you think I don't know what I'm doing?"

"Have you signed Kofi up for ASCAP or BMI yet? Does he have a TuneCore membership? LiveMixtapesDotCom account?"

"If I knew what those things were I probably would have." Xavier shrugged.

"Well let's do that today too. ASCAP is the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, BMI is Broadcast Music, Inc. They're two different performing rights organizations. Basically whichever one we chose would protect Kofi's copyrights, and if his music is used in a live or recorded broadcast, they'd make sure he gets paid accordingly."

"I like that getting paid part." Kofi said, nodding.

"That's more so for television and radio, stuff like that. Tunecore is a music distribution service, it allows you to get your music on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon, TIDAL, and Google Play."

"Woah, what's wrong with Datpiff and SoundCloud? They're free. And I thought record labels handled that type of stuff with a big streaming services." Big E said, a bit confused.

"You can still post there. The more places you post, the better. And that's how you get signed to a label. When they see how much you can do without them, and how valuable you are or how much money you're worth, they just hop on the wave and see what they can get out of it. When you sign to a label, you're basically an investment. They put money into you and your music and as long as they keep getting more money out then they put in, they'll keep the money flowing, that's why they handle that for you. When they stop getting that money, you're dropped from the label."

"I like her. Keep her around." Xavier said, sitting down next to Becky.

"I like you too, you have a good head on your shoulders, and you understand the genre well, just not the business side of the music industry so much. But you seem like a quick learner. I'll teach you."

"What's your number?"

"You're gonna fuck her too, bruh!?" Big E exclaimed, impulsively.

Xavier rolled his eyes, and Kofi laughed, as Becky looked confused.

"No dickhead, I need her number because we're co-managing Kofi."

"'Her too?'" Becky asked.

"He's retarded. Ignore him."

They heard a knock at the door.

"Oh, that's probably Charlotte." Becky said, standing up to open the door.

"Charlotte?"

"Yeah, your public relations manager."

Becky opened the door, and Xavier raised his eyebrows.

"She got you a PR manager?" Xavier asked, looking at Kofi.

Kofi shrugged.

Charlotte entered the room.

"Charlotte Flair, I'm your new PR manager." Charlotte smiled, extending her hand to Big E.

"Actually, that's-"

"Big E. You're not my PR manager, but it's nice to meet you." Big E said, with a smile, shaking her hand.

Charlotte turned to Kofi, extending her hand to him.

"Kofi K."

Charlotte looked confused at the handshake Kofi gave her, as Xavier and Becky began to laugh a bit.

"What does a PR manager do again?" Kofi asked.

"Basically I'm here to help create and maintain a positive public image for you, find out your target demographics, and figure out the most effective ways to market you to them."

"I don't know what that means, but it sounds good and shit, so I'm gonna nod my head."

"She's here to make you look good, and get you more fans." Becky said.

"Aye, we got a pretty solid team going. X makes sure you get your money, Charlotte makes sure you get your fame, and Becky and Tyler make sure your music sounds good." Big E smiled.

"What do you do?" Charlotte asked.

"Oh, I... uh... I um... I just realized that I don't contribute to Kofi's career in a tangible way holy shit, yo Kofi what should I do?"

Kofi thought for a bit.

"Um... you big as hell, bodyguard."

"Nah, nah, I wanna do something involving the music."

"Yeah, I'm a musician, you the bodyguard so crazy fans don't run up and kill me before I can make my music."

"Nigga, get Titus big ass to be your bodyguard, I wanna do something cool."

"You're a really energetic person. You could be his hype man on stage." Becky shrugged.

"I like her! Keep her around!" Big E exclaimed.

Becky and Xavier laughed a bit.

"I'll just chill back here and take notes on your music, your personality, get to know exactly who 'Kofi K' is, and what he represents, ya know?" Charlotte asked, sitting down at the back of the studio.

"Alright, what do I gotta do?"

"Just act like I'm not even here."

Kofi nodded, as Tyler handed him the headphones.

* * *

Sasha sat in the mirror, looking at her freshly dyed hair. It was no longer pink, and now more of a purple color. Bayley excitedly stood behind her.

"So... how did I do!?"

"Uh... I like it, I think..."

"You're just getting used to it, once you get used to it you'll love it."

"I guess... I hope Xavier likes it." Sasha said, taking a picture with her phone to send to him.

"You know, you seem to care a lot about what some guy you met 3 days ago thinks."

"Because we're kinda a thing." Sasha said, taking a different picture.

"I mean, you went on one date with him, and you had sex with him one time."

"It would've been two if wasn't for you!"

Bayley sighed.

"Look, every guy that I've ever hooked up with before Xavier was stupid, ambitionless, or misogynistic. I don't have the best luck with guys. Then all of a sudden, I hit the jackpot! He went to Princeton, he's funny, he might become the manager of a famous rapper."

"Your boyfriend Darren was cool." Bayley shrugged.

"Yeah he was awesome, the relationship was going great for like 5 months, and then I found out he was gay and was using me as a cover up!" Sasha said, sarcastically, still trying to take the perfect picture of herself.

"Oh! Right, that's what happened. Sorry, I forgot... yeah you have terrible luck with guys... wait, what about Dean? He was cool, he had money, wait... was he the one that went to jail for selling heroin?"

Sasha nodded.

Bayley awkwardly clenched her lips and nodded back.

"The only problem with Xavier is that he has a kid... well not that he has a kid, I don't mind him having a kid, it just... he broke up with his baby momma like a week ago."

"A week ago!?"

"Yeah."

"So what if they get back together?"

"That's why I'm so pressed over impressing him. I don't wanna be a girl on the side waiting months for him to break up with her for good. I did that with Rich... perfect!" Sasha smiled, sending the picture.

"Which one was that again?"

"Rich was the one that got me an engraved bracelet for $500 that said 'Sahsa instead of Sasha'."

Bayley burst into laughter, as Sasha sighed.

* * *

"Okay, okay! One at a time!" Becky exclaimed, over Xavier, E, Kofi, and Tyler arguing.

Everyone stopped.

"Flex-Y-Z HAS to be the intro. It's the best song on the tape." Big E said.

Xavier rolled his eyes.

"Why would the best song be first? The rest of the project would sound underwhelming, you have to peak early but not immediately."

"Nigga if the first song isn't fire, no one's gonna listen to the rest."

"All the songs are fire." Kofi said.

"Yeah but they not Flex-Y-Z fire."

"What's your tracklist, E?" Becky asked.

"Flex-Y-Z, Kevin Garnett, Queen B, Flex 16, Scarf, Breadwinners."

"Okay, Xavier, yours?"

"Flex 16, Kevin Garnett, Flex-Y-Z, Queen B, Scarf, Breadwinners. And we just make Flex-Y-Z the lead single."

"Yo, I completely forgot about singles." Big E said.

"Okay, Tyler, what do you think of the tracklist?"

"I like Xavier's." Tyler shrugged.

"Kofi?"

"That's up to y'all. I don't worry about tracklists and shit, I just make the music."

"Alright great, once we find a graphic designer to start working on some cover art, Charlotte and Xavier can look over the release schedule I put together, and we can get this thing going. What's today's full date?"

"April 19th, 2017." Xavier said.

"We should set a tangible goal for April 19th, 2018. What can we shoot for this time next year?"

"Consideration for the XXL Freshman List? It's in June every year, so I'm sure they've already talked to the rappers that'll be on it." Tyler shrugged.

"Year-long goal. Kofi K, XXL Freshman List Finalist." Becky said aloud, as she wrote it.

* * *

Later that night, Xavier was sitting on the couch of his parents' house, holding a notebook. He opened it, sighed and began to read the Venn Diagram. He noticed that the "Sasha" circle had different handwriting than the "Naomi" and "Both" circles, so he assumed Kofi wrote that one, and Big E wrote the other two.

"'Sasha. Fucked on the first night. Is willing to be a step mom. Always smells like strawberry?' Why the fuck is he smelling Sa... whatever. 'Always smells like strawberry. Y'all both nerdy so y'all probably into some weird kinky shit, also y'all could play video games and read comic books together. She's lightskinned so it's basically like having sex with a white girl and a black girl at the same time?' What does that even mean?" Xavier asked aloud, to no one, before continuing to read.

"'Naomi. The mother of your child. The love of your life. Knows everything about you. Thicker than a chemistry textbook. Can probably cook better than Sasha. More mature/financially stable. Doesn't fuck random guys in nightclubs.'... this nigga really wrote 'She looks like she gives good head, if she doesn't then just cross this out.'" Xavier said, looking around the empty room in disbelief.

"'And if you don't choose her, child support will be on your ass until 2033... Both. Fine as hell. Will gladly be accepted by me or Kofi if you don't want em." Xavier closed the book and threw it across the room. Sighing, before going to sleep.


	6. Lil Bobby

Bayley crouched down, taking pictures of Kofi around his neighborhood. Charlotte and Becky stood behind Bayley. Xavier stood off to the side, bored, scrolling through his phone. Sasha and Big E stood next to him, equally bored.

They heard the sounds of an ice cream truck and kids yelling slightly in the distance.

"Okay, maybe get some pictures with the kids and the ice cream truck." Charlotte smiled, pointing.

Kofi and Bayley looked confused, but began to walk over to the truck.

"Charlotte, what aesthetic are we going for exactly?" Becky asked, as everyone else began walking towards the ice cream truck as well.

"Relatable and down to earth, but still like... gangster or whatever."

"Your lovable neighborhood drug dealer basically." Xavier said, as Sasha cracked a smile.

"Exactly." Charlotte said.

Charlotte, Becky, Sasha, Big E, and Xavier all stopped and stood behind the group of kids, while Kofi cut in front of them, approaching the truck. Bayley stood in the middle of the kids.

"Aye Cedric, what's up man!" Kofi said, approaching the truck.

"Kofi K!" the driver said, dapping him up.

"You too old to be getting ice cream." The tallest one of the little boys said.

"Maybe he got kids." A little girl shrugged.

"I'm not getting ice cream, I'm-"

"Then what you holding up the line for, damn!?"

Bayley tried not to laugh as Kofi simply looked down at the little boy.

"Aye, man, I'm doing a photoshoot, I'm a rapper, and I wanna get a shot with y'all near the truck."

"You one of them SoundCloud rappers."

"I'm the best rapper in Georgia. Bayley, go ahead, get a picture."

Kofi kneeled down on one knee.

"Is that camera real?" Another little boy asked, walking up to Bayley, standing in the way of the camera lens.

"My momma said the best rapper in Georgia is Young Thug." the little girl said.

"Young Thug ain't better than Gunna." the taller boy said.

Kofi chuckled.

"That's a fact."

"Nigga you ain't better than Gunna either."

"What? You must not know who I am, I'm K-."

"Kofi K. I know."

"You know who I am!?" Kofi asked.

"Yeah, 'Diamonds big like T-Rex, I Tyrannosaurus Flex, give a fuck about my ex, gimmie neck, I don't want sex.'"

"Ayeeee!" Kofi smiled, while Xavier and Sasha looked deeply concerned that the child had Kofi's explicit lyrics memorized, while Big E, Bayley, Becky, and Charlotte just laughed.

"Yeah, you alright, you ain't no Gunna though."

"I'm Gunna shove my foot up yo ass if you don't shut up and take this picture." Kofi said, putting his arm around him.

"Wait, wait, wait, who's that?" the boy said, walking up to Bayley, pushing the shorter boy out of the way.

"I'm Bayley."

"I'm Lil Bobby, but they call me LB." he said, shaking her hand.

"Aww, how cute."

"You're cute."

"What?" Bayley asked, looking a bit cautious as Xavier and Sasha tried not to burst into laughter. Becky simply raised her eyebrows, and Kofi sighed in annoyance.

"Yeah, you thick, girl, let me shoot my shot." Lil Bobby said, peeking behind her.

Bayley gasped, taking a step back as Sasha and Xavier began fully laughing. Becky began to chuckle a bit too as Charlotte and Big E stood silently.

"Dude, you're like 10."

"I'm 11."

"I'm 20."

"I'M READY TO TAKE THIS DAMN PICTURE!" Kofi said, impatiently.

Lil Bobby turned back around to face him.

"Alright, we'll take the picture under two conditions."

"You got demands now lil nigga?"

"Yup. First off, you gotta buy all of us ice cream." Lil Bobby said, crossing his arms.

"Fuck I look like? I ain't Big Bobby."

"You supposed to be this big rapper, you should be rich then, right?"

"Hey, we could even stage it and make a video for Instagram of you buying all their ice cream!" Charlotte smiled.

"Hey, shut up." Kofi responded.

"I'll pay for it." Charlotte shrugged.

"We not giving these bad ass kids no free ice cream."

"Now you just being petty, the bitch with the big titties already said she gone pay for it!" Lil Bobby shouted.

Charlotte uncomfortably zipped up her hoodie, covering up her revealing shirt.

"Okay, fine, what ice cream y'all want?"

"Hold up! I said two conditions."

"Y'all getting free ice cream, what else do you want, bruh?"

"You gotta let me slap that ass one time."

"Let you slap my ass!? Nigga what!?" Kofi asked.

"Nooo! No, ew! Pause! Gay ass nigga, I wasn't talking about you! I mean THAT ass." Lil Bobby said, pointing at Bayley.

"WHAT!?" Bayley shouted, as Xavier walked away, unable to hold his hysterical laughter in anymore.

"Alright fine." Kofi shrugged.

Bayley's eyes got huge.

"NO! NOT FINE!"

"It's one slap, Bayley." Charlotte said.

"I'M NOT LETTING A LITTLE KID SEXUALLY ASSAULT ME JUST TO GET KOFI GOOD PUBLICITY!"

Just then, a pick up truck pulled up.

"LB!" A buff, bald man yelled, from the driver seat.

"Fuck." Lil Bobby whispered under his breath.

"Yooo, your Dad is Bobby Lashley! That's the big nigga that be working security in the club!" Kofi laughed, seeing the resemblance.

Lil Bobby approached the truck.

"Didn't your Mom say you're grounded until you get rid of those E's on your interim?"

"Y-yeah but I just came outside to get my-"

"Boy, get in this damn truck and shut up."

Lil Bobby sighed, getting in on the passenger side.

"Wait!" Kofi yelled, as the truck started to drive off. Kofi chased it down.

Bobby slammed on the brakes, and looked confused at Kofi.

"Hey man, I just wanted to say your son has been out here cussing and pushing other kids, and he tried to slap a woman on the ass."

"HE WHAT!?" Bobby asked.

"NO I DIDN'T, HE'S LYING!" Lil Bobby yelled.

Kofi walked away from the truck, as Lil Bobby started crying and Bobby began yelling, driving away.

"Aight y'all, who wants ice cream?" Kofi asked.

The kids all cheered.

* * *

About an hour later, Charlotte and Kofi sat on the curb, looking though the camera footage, while everyone else stood around.

"These look great, Bayley." Charlotte smiled, as the pick up truck pulled up again. Bobby and Lil Bobby got out of it.

"Go ahead." Bobby said.

Lil Bobby sighed, walking up to Bayley.

"I'm sorry for behaving inappropriately earlier. My parents made me hand write an apology." he frowned, handing her a note.

"I forgive you." Bayley said, with a bit of a smirk.

Bobby and Lil Bobby got back in the car and drove off.

"Wow." Bayley said, reading the note.

"What?" Sasha asked.

"All this note says is 'HMU on Snapchat, LB20205'."

Everyone laughed.

"What are you doing tonight?" Sasha whispered to Xavier.

"Uh... probably going to see my daughter."

"...oh... what about after that?"

"I'll probably spend the night there."

"You still spend the night at your baby momma's house sometimes?" Sasha asked, disappointedly.

"It's... it's not like that."

Sasha said nothing, and Xavier sighed.

* * *

"What is this?" Xavier asked, naked, laying in the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

Naomi layed next to him, naked as well.

"I don't even know." she shrugged.

"Well I need to."

"...what's her name?" Naomi asked.

"What's who's name?"

"The girl you're fucking."

"Why do you think I'm fucking someone?"

"Cause you're asking me what we are, obviously you wanna know so you know if you can still talk to other people or not."

"...nah."

Naomi scoffed, putting the blanket over herself.


End file.
